Memories of Akbar Hashemi - June 6, 2002

Mr. Nourbakhsh said that in the government, Mr. Kharrazi [Minister of Foreign Affairs] asked Mr. Khatami to support him in the impeachment of the representatives, and Mr. Khatami became upset and said that he could not solve his problem with the representatives himself. Mr. Khatami also protested to the Minister of Education, who had objected to the leadership for removing the Deputy Minister of Education.

Full text of the diary:

For the opening of the 15th Congress of Islamic Unity, we went to the Conference Hall of Heads of States. Islamic scholars from 30 countries have come. Mr. [Mohammad Ali] Tasekhiri, [Secretary General of the World Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Religions] welcomed us. I spoke about the importance of cooperation among Islamic countries, the threat posed by America and Israel, the suffering of the Palestinians, and the role of ijtihad and governmental rulings in managing the country. The theme of the conference is resilience in principles and responsiveness to needs. Mr. [Gholam Reza] Shafii, our ambassador in Russia, came. He discussed areas of cooperation, including the Bushehr power plant, activating the North-South corridor, and Caspian Sea issues, and requested efforts to solve the legal regime problems of the Caspian. He said that the Russians have decided not to cooperate with OPEC on oil prices.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Hossein] Sadeqi, the [Director General of the Persian Gulf] from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came. He provided a report on negotiations with Iraq and the UAE to resolve problems that have not progressed. He believes there is no country that can make decisions to solve important issues, and he asked me to intervene.

Mr. [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh, [the head of the Central Bank], came. He said that in a meeting of the Cabinet, Mr. [Kamal] Kharrazi, [the Minister of Foreign Affairs], asked Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami, [the President], to support him regarding the impeachment of the representatives, and Mr. Khatami was upset and said that he could not resolve his issues with the representatives himself. Also, Mr. Khatami complained to the Minister of Education about being criticized by the leadership due to the removal of the educational assistant. He criticized the [National] Inspection Organization for unnecessary file-making.

There is a lot of pressure from the Imam's shrine to accept three speeches in the programs for the anniversary of the Imam; I accepted one, as there are many such programs these days. The reaction of leftist media, foreign entities, and representatives regarding the Tehran judiciary's statement about the inflammatory remarks supporting negotiations with America is sharp and widespread.

There are minor clashes at the border between Pakistan and India, resulting in daily casualties. In America, a boat crashed into a major bridge causing it to collapse, and several cars fell into the river, resulting in casualties.

In retaliation for Israel's daily aggressions, a Palestinian martyrdom fighter has created a huge explosion east of Tel Aviv, killing a large number of Israelis.